


Sleep talk

by MrsKnightleysDays



Category: Shameless (US)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 06:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2955497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsKnightleysDays/pseuds/MrsKnightleysDays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "Ian's new boyfriend comes to Mandy and asks her who is Mickey (because Ian talks in his sleep or something like that !)."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Mandy wasn't happy that Mickey and Ian had broken up, or that Mickey had left Chicago without a word after it happened. Clearly he wasn't happy about the break-up either. The boys had decided that it was for the best, but she was pretty sure that Mickey had been more devastated than he had let on initially.  
At any rate, Ian and Mandy had decided to move into an apartment as roommates a few months ago, and so far that was working out pretty well. Ian was keeping an eye on her and protecting her from the wrong sorts of guys, for which Mandy was eternally grateful.  
Ian had been dating a new guy, Stephen, for a few weeks, and Mandy really liked him. He was nothing like Mickey; he was tall and gangly and clearly one of the smartest people she'd ever met.  
One night she sat watching tv in their living room when Stephen came out to join her. She had to admit, when he was shirtless and had his hair all rumpled like this, he was extremely attractive for a guy who wasn't her type.  
"Mandy," he said, voice kind of cracking. "I want to talk to you."  
She was surprised; she hadn't had many opportunities to talk to him yet, and here he was coming to find her just after he woke up on a Saturday morning.  
"What's up?" she asked.  
"Who's Mickey?"  
She paused. Why had Ian never mentioned Mickey to Stephen? Did he not want Stephen to know? She wasn't sure what she could say about that relationship that Ian would be okay with.  
"Uhh, Mickey's my brother." She hoped that was a good enough answer.  
"Your brother? Were he and Ian together or something?"  
"Ummm," she felt really uncomfortable answering. "Yeah, at one point. But then they broke it off."  
"Were they very serious?"  
"I don't really know. Look, you're going to have to talk to Ian about this."  
Stephen nodded, but didn't turn away. After a moment, he spoke up again, more quietly this time.  
"I don't mean to sound like a jealous douche, but Ian says his name all the time in his sleep. Almost every night, he tries to tell him to come back, or that he still loves him. I'm trying to get past it, but he says it so much." Mandy was shocked, but clearly there was more, so she didn't say anything. "And Ian gave me his phone to check who had texted him one day and I saw that he has saved messages from Mickey on his phone. I didn't look at them, but the last saved message started with 'I love you.'"  
Why did Ian have texts on his phone from Mickey that said 'I love you'? Ian never saved texts, because his phone couldn't hold all that many. Was Ian still in love with Mickey? Was there any chance that they would get back together? Stephen was great, but if Mickey and Ian could be happy together, it would make Mandy feel a lot better. She wanted them both to be happy, and she was pretty sure that getting back together brought the best chance for that.  
And the dreams had to mean something too. Was Ian really unable to let go?  
Mandy wanted to skip around, but she waited until Stephen had left to make her move.  
She jumped on Ian's bed a little while later and asked him, "so whatcha dreaming about, Ian?"  
He groaned and rolled over as though to ignore her, but she didn't let him.  
"Ian, you should really get up, it's 2 in the afternoon."  
Ian finally sat up, looking frustrated. "Okay."  
"So what were you dreaming about?"  
Ian looked thoughtful for a moment, then Mandy thought she saw a flash of a smile before he shook his head. "I don't really remember," he told her.  
She decided to come right out and ask him.  
"Mickey?"  
He just looked at her for a moment. "How'd you know?"  
"You talk in your sleep," she said matter-of-factly.  
"Does Stephen...?"  
"Yeah."  
"Oh God."  
"Are you going to talk to him?"  
"Stephen? I guess I should, but-"  
"No, I meant Mickey."  
"Oh," he looked at her helplessly, but she just waited for a response. "I don't know if he'd want me to."  
"Why?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't encroaching on territory that she wasn't supposed to enter.  
He shook his head. "What happened, Ian?" she asked. Why would they be so unwilling to see each other after being in love for so long.  
"I slept with someone, and I think I broke his heart. It was stupid. I was high. I don't know what I was thinking. I would never do it again."  
Ian looked broken. Mandy reached over and patted his shoulder.  
"Talk to him."  
"Okay," Ian said. "I will."  
"Right now," Mandy suggested. When Ian grabbed his phone, Mandy got a feeling in her stomach that he might just get back to Mickey after all. When Ian smiled into his phone while he was across the room from her, Mandy was sure of it. Things would be okay for them.


	2. Chapter 2

Ian was scared, there was no other word for it.  
He'd called Mickey several times over the course of the last few days, but Mickey had never answered. Now, somehow, Mandy had convinced Ian to go to Mickey's place in Milwaukee to try to talk to him.   
They'd lied to Stephen, of course. Mandy had said something about Ian needing to see one of his cousins, and Ian had just nodded along.  
Lies were what had broken up and destroyed his last relationship, so he should have known better than to continue, but it was his habit. He'd try to improve that eventually, but there was too much at stake for the truth right now. He really liked Stephen, really really liked him even, but Mickey was the love of Ian's life. It was worth it for Ian to try to win Mickey back, but at the same time, he didn't want to risk losing Stephen if there was no chance with Mickey. He had so much hope that it might work out with Mickey that he felt it was worth the trip.  
But that didn't change the fact that he was scared.   
Ian and Mickey hadn't spoken in person since the day that Mickey had found out that Ian had slept with someone, and they'd only exchanged a handful of texts since then. Ian had tried briefly, but he'd been up against a wall and given up trying to talk to the wall. At the time it hadn't felt worth it, but now Ian hugely regretted not immediately chasing after Mickey.  
What Ian hadn't told Mandy was that the cheating wasn't exactly what had caused Mickey to leave, it was the circumstances that surrounded the event. Ian cringed to remember, but it had only been sixteen hours between when Mickey had finally mustered up the courage to propose and when he had found Ian with a woman. Mickey had been really torn up by every part of it - Why would Ian sleep with someone? Was Ian really in love with Mickey? Was Ian even gay? Could Mickey ever trust Ian again?   
Evidently Mickey had decided that the answer to the last question must have been no, so he'd left.  
Ian hadn't been lying when he told Mandy that he was high - he'd taken something that someone had given him at a party, and it had made him very sick afterwards on top of the idiotic actions. It had been a pretty bad night, but the fall out had ended up being far worse than anyone would have expected. How many times had a Gallagher or a Milkovich or a friend of their families gotten high and did something stupid and been forgiven?   
Ian hadn't gotten any sort of second chance, he'd instead been screamed at and then had found himself alone and single faster than he had realized how serious things were.  
Ian held his knuckles up to the door of the address that Mandy had given him. A large part of him didn't want to knock. If they came face to face and Mickey didn't want to see him or talk to him anymore, what would that mean? That they could never see each other again? That didn't seem possible; Ian had always expected that he and Mickey would get back together at some point in the future.  
Twice he considered leaving, including once turning away from the door, but he didn't. Instead he smoothed out his shirt (as if Mickey would care about that) and rapped his knuckles on the door. The sound was loud and empty, and made Ian feel even less comfortable than he already had.  
Three seconds, four, five, six, no answer. He counted to fifteen before knocking again.   
"Mickey?" he called into the door. "It's, ah, it's Ian Gallagher."  
He hadn't been sure if saying his name would help or hurt the situation, but considering that Mickey hadn't even answered the first time, he figured that it was worth a shot.  
"Mickey?" he repeated, knocking again.   
Ian turned away from the door and looked down the street in both directions. The street looked remarkably similr to anything from the South Side of Chicago - dark and poor, and covered in litter. He wanted to walk away from the house and head back to the bus station, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He'd come all this way with the goal of winning Mickey back, so he was definitely going to do that. He wasn't giving up just yet.   
He took out his phone and was unsurprised to see that there were no new messages or calls from Mickey. He had three missed calls and a voice mail from Mandy, but he ignored those; he didn't want to deal with her right now, since that meant telling her that he might fail in his attempt to win back her brother.   
So rather than leaving, Ian sat down and dialed Mickey's number repeatedly. The phone went straight to voicemail, but Ian called it four times in the span of five minutes just in case anything would change. He didn't want to leave another voicemail - at this point he had left enough that anything else that he'd say would be pathetic and redundant. He thought back to the first voicemail that he'd left Mickey, which had gone something like "Hey Mickey, it's Ian. I was relly hoping that we could talk sometime soon. It's been a while and I miss you. Call me please." That was pretty much all that he thought needed to be said. Mickey wasn't one for mushy gushy stuff anyway.   
After he finally gave up calling, he stopped staring at the pavement and stood up. He turned out of the walkway and got ready to head up the street before he heard a voice down the street that sounded familiar.  
"Hey, hey!"   
Ian turned around excitedly, but it wasn't anyone he recognized. It must have been wishful thinking that convinced him that he knew the voice. He got ready to turn away again before the guy addressed him again.  
"Whachu doin' at this house?"  
"I'm waiting for, ah, my friend, ah, Mickey Milkovich? Do you know him?"  
"Sure, yeah. He's not here. He's with some guy for the weekend. Boyfriend or something. Guy he always talks about, anyway. I think it's his boyfriend."  
Ian felt stupid. He really should have told Mickey that he was coming, then Mickey might have thought it a good idea to tell him to stay away.   
He nodded to the guy. "Alright thanks."  
"See you around," the guy replied.  
Before Ian left, a thought occurred to him. "Wait, he's gay?"  
The guy laughed. "Yeah, you didn't know that? I thought everyone knew that."  
Ian nodded. "Oh."  
So Mickey was out here, and had a boyfriend. Great. Just great.  
It wasn't that Ian had expected Mickey to stay single and chaste or anything like that. He'd just assumed that Mickey wouldn't date guys so much as screw around with them. But now he had a boyfriend again. Good for him.   
Ian looked at his phone again as he walked away from Mickey's house. Three more calls from Mandy. That might have meant that he should call her back, but he didn't think that he could face anyone after this kind of upsetting news. He'd be composed by the time he reached Chicago, but for now he wanted to stay silent.   
While he was still holding the phone, it vibrated again, alerting him to the fact that he had an incoming call.  
"What the fuck?" he answered. "Why are you calling me so much, Mandy?"  
"Uh, hi. Sorry about that."  
Mickey. On Mandy's phone.   
Where were they? What were they doing together? How had Ian missed the memo? What was going on?  
Mickey's voice had been quiet, uncertain.   
Ian was nervous to respond. "How are you?" he asked. When there wasn't an answer immediately, he added "I miss you."  
There was a long pause before "I miss you too."  
Ian looked up to the sky, not even smiling because he was in shock. Moments ago he had been despairing, and now he was talking to Mickey on the phone. The smile started to creep in slowly and then wouldn't go away.   
"What are you doing in Chicago?"  
"I went looking for you."  
So Ian was the guy who Mickey wanted to see, the guy he always talked about. Ian could hardly believe that his feet were still carrying him and that he wasn't floating as he headed toward the bus station. Things were going to be okay. No, things were going to be better than okay. Mickey had gone to Chicago to see him. That was huge. Life would go back to the way that it was supposed to be again.


	3. Chapter 3

From the moment Ian's bus had arrived in Chicago, he'd been floating on air. He had practically run from the train stop to his house, but when he arrived, he stopped dead. In front of the apartment building, sitting on the steps, was Stephen.   
Ian hadn't expected to run into Stephen, or given him much thought at all. He had never been to the apartment without Ian there, so it didn't really make sense for him to have come. Ian had told Stephen that he'd be out of town, after all.  
Ian walked up cautiously. His excitement wasn't gone, but it was certainly muted. He wished that he knew what to say to Stephen. If Mickey didn't want to get back together, then Ian didn't want to lose Stephen. If Mickey did want to get back together, Stephen didn't stand a chance. At any rate, Stephen was not exactly the first person who Ian had wanted to see in Chicago.  
Once Stepher saw Ian, there was no chance for Ian to get away or anything. Stephen waved weakly and stood up slowly.   
"Hey, Ian," he said.   
"Hey, Stephen," Ian replied as he reached Stephen. He shifted his feet around awkwardly. "What are you doing here?"  
"You left that book that you were reading over at my place. I thought I'd bring it over and leave it here for you."  
"How would you get in?"  
"I figured Mandy'd be around. Anyway, she was, and her brother is here too..."  
Ian looked at him for a long moment and felt guilty. Stephen knew exactly what was going on.   
Ian instinctively wanted to give him a hug and tell him that things were going to be alright no matter what, but he also knew that that would not do anyone any good, and might even make things worse. But he did like Stephen, and he still had that urge to protect him, so it hit Ian straight in the gut when Stephen said, "just...call me tomorrow, or when you've got stuff sorted out."  
He walked past Ian awkwardly, and headed away. Ian didn't even look to see if Stephen looked back, he just stared at the ground. He would go inside, and he would talk to Mickey, and that would be awesome, but he still felt bad about what had just happened.   
It was with a rather heavy heart that he walked up the stairs and opened the door.   
When he got inside though, he felt a weight lift off of him. Ian didn't even see Mickey, but he could hear his voice talking to Mandy, and right away Ian wanted to sprint over. He shut the door loudly in the hopes of alerting the Milkovich siblings of his presence, but they didn't immediately head out into the hall, so he followed the sound of their voices to the kitchen.   
Mickey was facing away from Ian when Ian walked up, and evidently hadn't heard that Ian was there, because he didn't turn around.   
"But what the fuck was he in jail for that time, anyway? The first time, I know, it was arson, but why'd he have to go back? And how the fuck was I supposed to know that-"  
Mandy nodded her head towards Ian and Mickey turned around, silencing his thought partway through.   
"Ian."  
"Mickey."  
"Well, I'll see you guys later, then," Mandy offered, but the other two were focused on each other. She headed down the hall and closed the door to her bedroom loudly.  
Their eyes were locked on each other, but there was a long moment of uncertainty. Neither one moved a muscle.   
Ian wanted to ask Mickey if he had a chance, and whether his sudden appearance in Chicago meant that they could get back together, but all he managed was "hey."   
"Hey," Mickey repeated. He didn't say anything else. Ian was going to have to start the conversation if he wanted it to happen quickly.  
"I'm sorry, Mickey," he said, eyes still locked on Mickey. "I shouldn't have-"  
"Damn right you shouldn't have." Mickey suddenly had a voice. "You had some fucking excellent timing, too, didn't you?"  
Ian didn't repeat the fact that he'd been high or that it had been an accident or that it would never happen again. He'd said that enough times to Mickey's voicemail.   
Ian laughed a little. "Yeah, timing was not too great."   
Somehow, amazingly, Mickey almost smiled.   
"So, we gonna do this or what?" Mickey asked, looking serious again.   
Ian wracked his brain. Do what? Fight? Fuck? Kiss? Talk? What??  
"What?" he asked.  
"Well you said that you'd want to get back together, right? Or are you too busy fucking that skinny bitch who just left?" Ian stared, open mouthed for a fraction of a second too long. He was totally in shock. Mickey being in Chicago after all this time was one thing. Mickey wanting to get back together was just unreal. It was too perfect for words.  
"You staying with him then?"  
Ian snapped to his senses. "He's done. Gone. History," Ian managed quickly. "He was never here, he's totally forgotten, I-"  
"I get it," Mickey said, cocky grin finally in place on his face. "So we doin this thing then? Starting over or whatever?"  
"Of course."  
"Y'know, I don't have a place to stay in Chicago," Mickey began. "Ever since my dad kicked-"  
"C'mere you idiot," Ian said with a grin. "I'll show you exactly where you can stay."   
Ian took Mickey's hand and led him out of the kitchen towards Ian's own room. Silly as it was, Ian was thrilled for the contact. If that touch had such a strong reaction, he knew that this would be an excellent reunion. There was still so much between them, and it wasn't going away anytime soon.


End file.
